House speaker's spending under fire; he says it's legal

The campaign spending by House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-District 114, has recently come under fire and the criticism is increasing calls to overhaul state ethics laws.

The laws have been criticized for being vague and open to interpretation.

Harrell is adamant he did nothing improper and showed The Associated Press documents Tuesday to back up his assertions. He acknowledged, however, that he could be more specific on campaign finance forms about how he is reimbursed from his campaign account when he uses his personal credit card and pays bills online, among other things.

Campaign spending reports show Harrell has reimbursed himself about $280,000 from his campaign account since the summer of 2008.